commissioned portraits

Last week when I posted my DIY Football Door Hanger I posted on my personal pages and received a great response for commissions.  I make crafty things such as this to bring in a little extra money, but my passion is portraiture.  This is usually the time I year when I receive the most response for drawing commissions.  Since I resigned from teaching six years ago I have been creating my art on the side.  Christmas is my most popular holiday for commissioned portraits.

These are drawings, not portraits of my children.  I draw my children when I need to practice up on my drawing skills.  Thankfully it’s like riding a bike you never forget how to do it.  If you take a close look I try to capture the personality of the subject.

Since my children are my subject matter I choose to draw pictures of them where I catch them doing something silly or a special memory I want to be remembered instead of the perfect portrait shots.  However, when I am commissioned to draw a portrait it is usually a perfectly posed picture.  That’s why it is so important that the photograph that I am working from is perfect.

Most of the commissioned portraits I draw are of people I have never met.  When I agree to draw commissions I try to get the client to keep it to one subject.  That way the portrait becomes a priceless heirloom that will be passed down from generation to generation.  If you have all your children in a single portrait how will you decide who will inherit the portrait?  The last thing you want when you pass away for your children to fight over something so trivial, but if they know how much that portrait means to you – you would want them each to have their own.

If you would like to follow my journey of discovering myself you can connect with me on The Moms page.

What would you pay for a priceless heirloom?